Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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465. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way his Department and public bodies and agencies under his remit are implementing Action 16 of the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 (details supplied). [38473/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is committed under its Strategy 2021 – 2024, to maintain and develop strategic, operational, regulatory and technical capacity and capability to deliver excellent services to our customers.

The vision, stated in the Information and Management Technology (IMT) Strategy 2021–2024, is to maximise opportunities for technology adoption and innovation with a focus on delivering customer centric services through digitalisation, with the policy and legislative drivers being the Programme for Government and National & EU Regulations. Services provided are built with accessibility and universal design principles in all areas where possible, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations.

The Department's website is hosted on Gov.ie which is committed to achieving AA standard under WCAG 2.1 guidelines.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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466. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way his Department and public bodies and agencies under his remit are implementing Action 32 of the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 (details supplied). [38503/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is committed to the protection of human rights and the promotion of equality for its employees, customers, external stakeholders and interested parties. Our latest Statement of Strategy (2021-2024) sets out as a core value “A strong commitment to diversity, inclusion and the fair and equal treatment of all”, this applies both internally and externally.

The Department aims to ensure that the needs of all its customers, including people with disabilities are met and that the rights of equal treatment are upheld in the delivery of services. In accordance with Section 26(2) of the Disability Act 2005, two Access Officers are appointed who are responsible for providing or arranging for, assistance and guidance to persons with disabilities accessing services provided by the Department, when requested, and generally to act as a point of contact for people wishing to access such services.

In addition to the Access Officers, Department officials are available in all regions to provide assistance to applicants who have questions or concerns on any scheme operated by the Department. We have an Accessibility officer to facilitate contact with the Department and take suitable measures as necessary. For instance, the Department commissioned a digital recording of all our schemes and services to assist a customer with reading difficulties and supplied documents in Braille to assist a visually impaired customer.

We frequently engage with the National Disability Authority regarding policies relevant to persons with disabilities.

The Department is represented on a range on interdepartmental committees of relevance to the representation of people with disabilities. These include:

- Working Group on the development of a Well-being Framework for Ireland

- Oireachtas Disability Group

- Interdepartmental Committee on Human Rights

- Interdepartmental Committee on access to services by ‘off-line’ citizens

The recent move of the Department’s website to the www.gov.ie portal enabled the redesign of this platform to comply with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and National Disability Authority (NDA) guidelines. This includes ensuring that content on the website is at a suitable reading comprehension level.

As regards the twelve State Bodies under the aegis of the Department, the information requested is an operational matter for the State Bodies themselves. I have referred the Deputy’s question to the Agencies and have requested that a response should issue within 10 days.